fEATURED WRITING

ESKER FOUNDATION SPRING/SUMMER 2019

Esker Foundation presents their Spring/Summer Exhibition Season – featuring Indigenous Artists & Filmmakers from the Circumpolar World

On making your way through the exhibitions, Among All These Tundras, and CHANNEL 51: IGLOOLIK, viewers are immediately immersed in a juxtaposition of historical tradition and contemporary artistic forms.   

This carefully orchestrated, elegiacally curated experience not only brings our awareness to the social, environmental, political and cultural challenges facing the peoples of the circumpolar world but also appears to test our notions of tradition itself.  

There is subtle tension in these works, an eclectic combination of film, photography, installation, and performance art. Joy intermingling with grief, humour mixed with indignation, exposure holding hands with the sacred.  

And while the undertone of everything you will see is rooted in the critical subject matter each artist addresses, there also appears to be a delicate question floating in the air - can tradition adapt? 

As said by participating artist Sonya Kelliher-Combs, who’s stunning, translucent drawings represent our minute and monumental secrets, “tradition is something we are creating every day.”

The difficultly lies within ascertaining whether or not tradition is being adapted as a result of evolution or necessity.  With the serious consequences of colonization of northern lands, industrial encroachment and massive environmental and political alterations – how could it not come to pass that tradition would be either forcefully or willingly transformed? 

One artist has created a traditional sled out of non-traditional, found materials. Another has carved non-traditional, modern day items, out of traditional stone. Photographs of traditional food preparation are displayed with modern products and goods creeping in at the corners. More examples of the contrast between the historic and the present are displayed throughout the artwork and exhibitions. 

From modern twists on photography, videography, use of archival footage in contemporary ways, weaving in of traditional and non-traditional materials and the use of language in collaborative performance, these artists are not simply making a statement about how their heritage is being impacted by the modern world but are taking an active role in shaping how that heritage is celebrated now and into an uncertain future.  They are adapting without submitting. They are doing everything in their power to protect the legacy of their peoples while raising awareness through an elevated, current expression of their cultural norms.

And this exploration of the boundaries of tradition leads us into the examination of what other boundaries are being tested here. The positioning of the exhibition work alludes to the contemplation of a varied cross section of boundaries; cultural, geographical, physical, political, environmental and so forth.  The work alternates between being unframed, suspended, exposed, or encapsulated; some with boundaries others without.  

These exhibitions will inspire you to contemplate our preconceived notions of traditions, of boundaries and of the challenges facing the indigenous peoples of the circumpolar world. 

Esker’s Spring/Summer exhibitions Among All These Tundras and CHANNEL 51: IGLOOLIK run until August 30 and running in the Project Space, until July 21st, is Occlusion Field. Admission to Esker Foundation is free. 

BLAKE WARD - RELEVANT SPACE

Acclaimed, Canadian sculptor Blake Ward has brought, to Calgary, a collection of figurative monuments to the innate and raw beauty of humanity in all of its flawed perfection and unseen being.  His solo exhibition, Relevant Space, currently showing at The Collectors’ Gallery of Art, is an experience to be thoughtfully and voraciously consumed.

This collection of bronze masterworks contests the previous constraints of a medium that has enchanted audiences since the third millennium B.C. Each striking piece a magnificent ode to human existence; independent yet cohesively linked to others in a shared space. In taking in this body of work the stage has been set for us to look beneath the surface; not simply to extend our visual reach inside of Ward’s pieces, which leave the interior exposed to the viewer, but to stretch deeper within ourselves in order to complete the intentionally fractional forms.  

The romantic and poetic undertone of this exhibit conjures up words such as ethereal, introspective, liquid and wistful as they intertwine themselves in the viewer’s head whilst the mind takes in the subtly of each piece’s implied movement and organic like edifice.  These incantations, formed in bronze, invite the observer to contemplate the negative space that they gracefully present before us; stoic vessels for us to fill with our own interpretations and exclusive, internal dialogue. What one may pour into the void is not the same as the next.  What one sees before them another does not. What one creates as a story in their mind another does not and so on and so on. Life after life, figure after figure, piece after piece, the completed construct is in the eye of the beholder. 

With each work transfixed within a varied movement, as you make your way through the showing, there is a distinct sense that you are centre stage in the midst of a lyrical dance; as though when you momentarily remove your eyes Ward’s pieces somehow elegantly shift to provide you with an altered perspective of their interior and exterior layers.  

The narrative that silently echoes through the perfectly curated  gallery space is that which defines humanity; a cohesive amalgamation of harmony and discord. We are complete in our incompleteness, always in a fixed state of movement, fragmented between the seen and the unseen and exposed yet occluded.  Our imperfections are constantly on display for the world to see, yet only recognizable as such if one were to classify them as imperfections in the first place. This body of work appears to quietly ask the question, “are we perfectly imperfect?” 

Ward set out to do what bronze has never done before; he set out to expose its interior and let it move, both literally and figuratively, before our very eyes.  He has accomplished this, and so much more, and in doing so has extended an approachable and intoxicating invitation to join him in elevating this ancient artistic medium from a classically rigid structure to an otherworldly, fully awake experience indicative of the age of mindfulness we find ourselves in today. 

Relevant Space continues through Thursday, June 24th at The Collectors’ Gallery of Art in Inglewood. Gallery hours can be found at http://collectorsgalleryofart.com/

OFFBEAT FIGURE DRAWING “fIREFLY”

“You belong.” This is the simple mantra echoed in every communication, post or media release about Offbeat Figure Drawing events and this could not be a more apt statement.

On Friday, April 5th I attended my first ever Offbeat Figure Drawing session, “FIRE FLY,” at the #mailotcastle, a stoic 1970s home, sponsored as a one year art residency project in Mount Royal.  

Even though I had read and heard about how open and inclusive these OffBeat Figure Drawing events were, I was admittedly nervous.  I’d never attended a live figure drawing and that nagging voice in the back of my head was quietly whispering “You don’t belong….you’re out of your league”   It was nonsense, but the truth is we all hear the same noise whether or not we’ve been creating art for decades or have never before picked up a pencil or brush.

Art, for such a tiny word, can be incredibly intimidating. We bury that little word in so many heavy expectations and strict definitions that we rob it of the simplistic fact that it is nothing more than the manifestation of human creativity…that’s all.  Even if we understand this, many of us don’t even know where to begin to dig it out from under the burden of our own misconceptions about ourselves as artists.

But Desere Pressey, director of Little Duck Gallery, has found a way for you to not do any digging at all;  a way to effortlessly show you that “You Belong”

From the moment I stepped through the door of the space we were to create in, my fearsome, internal dialogue immediately ceased.  Greeted by smiling, approachable faces and encouraged to take some time to explore the eccentric building, I instantly felt the inclusive energy that had been so carefully curated for the event.

The night marked the beginning of creative collaborations between AUarts (formerly ACAD) and Little Duck Gallery (set to open in the fall of 2019  in Kensington). They had taken the architectural indulgence of this former residence and elevated it to something unique and multifaceted; they had dramatically set the stage for you to become part of an inviting and immersive experience.

With live models posing and various performing artists stationed about, it was easy to find a space that suited you, to settle and prepare yourself to create.  The first half of the evening consisted of the models posing in shorter segments, working up to a 15 min pose before a break. These shorter poses allowed you to both warm up and not fall into the trap of placing a great deal of expectation on your work.  

Even Desere’s calm and welcoming voice, as she went from room to room introducing herself and sharing information about the event, the venue and the creative participants, seemed to cohesively support the tone of the evening.

Time passed quickly, the night flowing fluidly from pose to pose, from creating to taking in. Guests were welcome to move about and select a new space to create in or stay as they were, whatever suited you, the artist.   The second half of the evening closed with a longer, half hour pose and as gently and subtly as the night began, it ended with quiet applause for the models, the performers and the artists all around.

The event was everything it promised to be and more.  “You Belong” perfectly represented the lack of pretension and the open energy at this Offbeat Figure Drawing session. And it wasn’t just the realization that you belonged, that resonated with you as you walked away from “FIRE FLY”, but that Desere Pressey and her creative collaborators had managed to gracefully design the evening to belong… to you; to your introduction to or continued acceptance of yourself as an artist.

From the moment you walked through the door there was an imperceptible and immediate stripping away of your apprehensions about yourself as an artist as you gently received the awareness that art does not have to be either intimidating or exclusive. OffBeat Figure Sessions show us that art is for everyone, art is everywhere and that we belong.

I would highly recommend attending one of these sessions, especially if you are looking to dip your toes into the local art scene and I cannot wait to see what future events and collaborations will hold.

For more information on OffBeat Figure Drawing or to learn about upcoming events check out www.offbeatfiguredrawing.com